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Time Out
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Zeitz MOCAA honours late chief curator Koyo Kouoh
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town will close its doors on Thursday to honour the life and legacy of its Executive Director and Chief Curator, Koyo Kouoh, who passed away unexpectedly on 10 May in Switzerland. Kouoh was a towering figure in contemporary art and known as a visionary, cultural leader and a fierce advocate for African and Afro-diasporic artistic expression. Appointed in 2019, she led Zeitz MOCAA through a transformative period, redefining the museum's curatorial voice and positioning it as a globally recognised platform for contemporary African art. Her sudden passing came just months after she made history as the first African Artistic Director of the Venice Biennale, where she was curating the 61st edition titled 'In Minor Keys', scheduled to open in May 2026. The Biennale has confirmed that Kouoh's vision will still shape the exhibition, to be realised by her core team. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zeitz MOCAA (@zeitzmocaa) In a tribute shared via LinkedIn, David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront and Trustee of Zeitz MOCAA, said, 'It has been with shock and a profound sadness that I received news of the sudden passing of Koyo… In getting to know Koyo over the years since her acceptance of the job to lead Zeitz MOCAA, I, in the role of Trustee and Co-Chair of the museum, had come to appreciate a true sense of her love for what art and artists bring to the world. 'She held an intense conviction that elevating African art was her calling and she extended herself to creating spaces and relationships that would make this possible. Her passing is untimely, and I am going to miss her counsel and friendship immensely,' said Green. Tribute Details for Koyo Kouoh Date: Thursday, 29 May 2025 Time: 4 PM (SAST)
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Koyo Kouoh, art curator due to lead 2026 Venice Biennale, dies aged 57
Koyo Kouoh, the groundbreaking Swiss-Cameroonian curator who was to become the first African woman to head up the Venice Biennale, died suddenly on Saturday, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa announced. 'It is with profound sorrow that the trustees of Zeitz MOCAA announce the sudden passing of Koyo Kouoh, our beloved executive director and chief curator, on Saturday, 10 May 2025,' said the museum in a statement on Monday. Kouoh, 57, had been put in charge of the 61st edition of the Biennale Arte, which will take place in Venice from April to November 2026. Born in 1967 in Doula, Cameroon, but educated through her teens and 20s in Zurich, Kouoh had been executive director of MOCAA in Cape Town, South Africa, since 2019. It holds the continent's largest collection of contemporary art. She was previously the founding artistic director of Raw Material Company, an art centre in Dakar, Senegal, which had a big impact on her. 'It's the place I came of age professionally, where I really became a curator and an exhibition-maker,' she recently told the Financial Times. 'Dakar made me who I am today.' As curator of the Biennale she was due to present the exhibition's title and theme in Venice in a week's time, on 20 May. In a statement, the management of the Venice Biennale said they were 'deeply saddened and dismayed to learn of the sudden and untimely passing of Koyo Kouoh'. They said Kouoh had 'worked with passion, intellectual rigour and vision on the conception and development of the Biennale Arte 2026.' The statement added: 'Her passing leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art and in the international community of artists, curators and scholars who had the privilege of knowing and admiring her extraordinary human and intellectual commitment.' The Biennale confirmed it was 'likely to hold the press conference on 20 May', which will also be livestreamed from its headquarters. Zeitz MOCAA said it had closed its doors and suspended all programming until further notice. Kouoh moved to Switzerland at 13 and originally studied business administration and banking before starting a literary career. In 1994, she co-edited Töchter Afrikas, which was inspired by the groundbreaking Daughters of Africa (1992), an anthology of writing by women of African descent. She was regarded as a transformational leader at Zeitz MOCAA, where she built 'an explicitly Pan-African, world-class programme', according to the New York Times, which credited her with turning around an institution that had experienced several scandals. In one of her final interviews, Kouoh discussed her view on mortality. 'I do believe in life after death because I come from an ancestral Black education where we believe in parallel lives and realities,' she said. 'There is no 'after death', 'before death' or 'during life'. It doesn't matter that much. I believe in energies – living or dead – and in cosmic strength.
